December in Review

Because I know there is some confusion about the purpose of the blog, I'm going to start doing "Months in Review." As I have said, this blog is to help us include our Heavenly Mother in our thoughts. Previous to writing this blog, Heavenly Mother was this nice concept, but I didn't really associate a role or purpose to Her, other than to exist. Then one day I had the epiphany that She really is exalted and really is a powerful, awesome Being; I had just never attributed real god-like traits to Her. How narrow-minded of me! Of course she is powerful, of course she is strong, of course She is everything that God is. So I started reading the scriptures and starting thinking about how the things we read about the Father can be applied to the Mother.

And that is purpose of this blog- to help us to think about Heavenly Mother more often and in god-like terms and purposes- not just as a nebulous idea of "Yeah... she's there... doing something..."

What I have really enjoyed, and what is alluded to in the title of this blog, is idea of our heavenly parents working together as partners. Now, when I think of "God" in the scriptures, my mind doesn't think only of a single man, but of a team including Heavenly Mother.

So December in review:

Heavenly Mother and Father love, deliver, bless, claim, are praised by, grant wisdom, request the service of, sustain, command, guide, gave their Son to us.

Heavenly Mother in the Bloggernacle and across the Internet this month:

Corktree wrote The female half of God? at the Exponent II blog
Brad wrote God The Wife at By Common Consent
fMhLisa, in a post Mary, Divine Motherhood, and Mormonism, added some thoughts about how we think of Heavenly Mother at Feminist Mormon Housewives.
Joanna Brooks wrote, "Adios, Divine Mother"

This past month was just a starting month and I hope to expand on the types of posts here. In January, look for a book review and a couple of personal essays.

James 1:27

On Sunday, our Relief Society opening song was Have I Done Any Good? and this scripture was taken from the footnotes of that song. This scripture was unusual because it said "God and the Father" which might be alluding to Christ as God and Heavenly Father as the Father, but if you throw in the "Christ is also God the Father" concept, things get a little confusing. And since I can't read the mind of James, we're going with adding Goddess and Mother to this. Also, I wasn't sure if I should add "widowers." Is there a word to mean, "Any person, female or male, whose spouse has died?"  I did "motherless" to the list, which struck me poignantly because part in why I started this blog was because I felt doctrinally "motherless." I supposed I could have used "orphaned" but it didn't "speak" to me as well.

27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and Goddess and the Father and the Mother is this, To visit the fatherless and motherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.

Malachi 3:8-10

Ending off the Old Testament year with a scripture mastery!

8 Will a person rob God and Goddess? Yet ye have robbed us. But ye say, Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.

9 Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed us, even this whole nation.

10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in our house, and prove us now herewith, saith the Lord and Lady of hosts, if we will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.

I like the "we's" and "us's" and considering our Heavenly Parents as a team.

Who's ready for the New Testament next year?

They Sent Their Son

I hope you all are having a happy Christmas. I chose He Sent His Son by Mabel Jones Gabbott to be our Christmas song. Because of the repetitions of "He sent his Son..." I alternated the pronouns between He and She, and also changed "men" to "us."

They Sent Their Son


How could the Father tell the world of love and tenderness?
He sent his Son, a newborn babe, with peace and holiness.

How could the Mother show the world the pathway we should go?
She sent her Son to walk with us, on earth, that we may know.

How could the Father tell the world of sacrifice, of death?
He sent his Son to die for us and rise with living breath.

What does the Mother ask of us? What do the scriptures say?
Have faith, have hope, live like her Son, help others on their way.

What do they ask?
Live like their Son.

Luke 2:8-14

I cannot read Luke 2 without hearing the voice of Linus van Pelt, can you? In the last verse, I not only added "Goddess" but changed "men" to "all."

8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.

9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.

12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.

13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and Goddess, and saying,

14 Glory to God and Goddess in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward all.

Merry Christmas!

Psalms 48:14

Doing this scripture today was prompted by the funeral we attended Monday.

14 For this God and Goddess are our God and Goddess for ever and ever: they will be our guides even unto death.

Nehemiah 1:4-11

I think I like doing a scripture from the Sunday School lesson on Mondays. Today I pull from Nehemiah chapter 1. Besides the usual additions of "Goddess" and "mothers" and pronoun and verb plurality changes, today I had to figure out what to do with "Lord." In the grammar tab above, I say I'll often keep "Lord" as written if it is obviously a reference to Christ. This doesn't follow as "obviously a reference to Christ" so I added Lady. I also had to go make sure "thine" was plural as well as singular. It is.

4 And it came to pass, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned certain days, and fasted, and prayed before the God and Goddess of heaven,

5 And said, I beseech thee, O Lord and Lady God and Goddess of heaven, the great and terrible God and Goddess, that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love them and observe their commandments:

6 Let thine ear now be attentive, and thine eyes open, that thou mayest hear the prayer of thy servant, which I pray before thee now, day and night, for the children of Israel thy servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel, which we have sinned against thee: both I and my father and mother's house have sinned.

7 We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments, which thou commandedst thy servant Moses.

8 Remember, We beseech thee, the word that thou commandedst thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, We will scatter you abroad among the nations:

9 But if ye turn unto us, and keep our commandments, and do them; though there were of you cast out unto the uttermost part of the heaven, yet will We gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that We have chosen to set our names there.

10 Now these are thy servants and thy people, whom thou hast redeemed by thy great power, and by thy strong hands.

11 O Lord and Lady, I beseech thee, let now thine ear be attentive to the prayer of thy servant, and to the prayer of thy servants, who desire to fear thy names: and prosper, I pray thee, thy servant this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man. For I was the king's cupbearer.

Once within a Lowly Stable

In anticipation of Christmas this week, today's song is Once within a Lowly Stable by Patty Smith Hill and Mildred Hill from the Children's Songbook. As in many songs, finding a one syllable plural word for "God" is hard, so I rewrote the line, "God sent us this loving baby" to "Heav'nly Parents sent this baby." Other options I considered were, "Father, Mother, sent this baby," "Mother, Father, sent this baby," and "God and Goddess sent this baby." Each of those follow the meter well. "Goddess and God..." didn't fit well at all.

Once within a Lowly Stable

Once within a lowly stable,
Where the sheep and oxen lay,
A loving mother laid her baby
In a manger filled with hay.
Mary was the mother there,
And the Christ that baby fair.

Heav'nly Parents sent this baby
From his home in heav'n above,
And he came down to show all people
How to help and how to love.
This is why the angels bright
Sang for joy that Christmas night.

Happy Christmas and Happy Sunday all!

Mosiah 4:19-21

I don't know anyone who doesn't love King Benjamin. I also thought this was wonderful considering the Christmas season right now. I like verse 21- thinking about how we are dependent on Heavenly Mother as well as Heavenly Father gives her a new dimension for me.

19 For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon the same Being, even God and Goddess, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind?

20 And behold, even at this time, ye have been calling on their names, and begging for a remission of your sins. And has they suffered that ye have begged in vain? Nay; they has poured out their Spirit upon you, and has caused that your hearts should be filled with joy, and has caused that your mouths should be stopped that ye could not find utterance, so exceedingly great was your joy.

21 And now, if God and Goddess, who have created you, on whom you are dependent for your lives and for all that ye have and are, doth grant unto you whatsoever ye ask that is right, in faith, believing that ye shall receive, O then, how ye ought to impart of the substance that ye have one to another.

Doctrine and Covenants 4

Today we have the "missionary section." When I was a Laurel, our stake had "MTC" for all the Laurels and Priests once a month. We would practice giving each other the discussions and we would recite this section.

I did a lot of work to this section today. I added "Goddess" and "women" and changed the "he's" to "one's" since "he or she" is a little wordy. I added "sisterly" to "brotherly" because I don't think "siblingly" is a word. I left "godly" because I wasn't sure if "goddessly" was needed. Do you think it is? I also put "Goddess" in before "God" a couple of times to mix things up a bit.

English really needs a good inclusive pronoun. I know a lot of people use "they" but I'm afraid the grammarians will come and say, "but 'they' is plural!" Of course, so many people are using "they" as a singular pronoun that it might be permissible. After all, English is always evolving. What do you think?

1 Now behold, a marvelous work is about to come forth among the children of men and women.

2 Therefore, O ye that embark in the service of God and Goddess, see that ye serve them with all your heart, might, mind and strength, that ye may stand blameless before God and Goddess at the last day.

3 Therefore, if ye have desires to serve Goddess and God ye are called to the work;

4 For behold the field is white already to harvest; and lo, who that thrusteth in one's sickle with one's might, the same layeth up in store that one perisheth not, but bringeth salvation to one's soul;

5 And faith, hope, charity and love, with an eye single to the glory of Goddess and God, qualify one for the work.

6 Remember faith, virtue, knowledge, temperance, patience, sisterly and brotherly kindness, godliness, charity, humility, diligence.

7 Ask, and ye shall receive; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. Amen.

Daniel 2:19-23

I wasn't in Sunday School yesterday, but my husband tells me the lesson was Daniel 2. I really like these verses. I added "and Goddess," changed "he" to "they," and threw in "my mothers."

19 Then was the secret revealed unto Daniel in a night vision. Then Daniel blessed the God and Goddess of heaven.

20 Daniel answered and said, Blessed be the name of God and Goddess for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are theirs:

21 And they changeth the times and the seasons: they removeth kings, and setteth up kings: they giveth wisdom unto the wise, and knowledge to them that know understanding:

22 They revealeth the deep and secret things: they knoweth what is in the darkness, and the light dwelleth with them.

23 I thank thee, and praise thee, O thou God and Goddess of my mothers and fathers, who hast given me wisdom and might, and hast made known unto me now what we desired of thee: for thou hast now made known unto us the king’s matter.

I especially like verses 21 and 22.

Welcome, Welcome, Sabbath Morning

Today I'm making this blog public to the Internets (hi there!) so today's hymn is a welcoming one. It was this or the Hello Song.

The most difficult part of altering hymns is finding a good one-syllable word to mean "Heavenly Parents" in place of "God." I might go with "They," capital "T" for most of the songs, unless someone has a better suggestion. Here's Welcome, Welcome, Sabbath Morning by Robert B. Baird.

Welcome Welcome Sabbath Morning

Welcome, welcome, Sabbath morning;
Now we rest from ev’ry care.
Welcome, welcome is thy dawning,
Holy Sabbath, day of prayer.
Loving teachers kindly greet us
As we meet in Sunday School,
Where they labor hard to teach us
By the Savior’s golden rule.

Hark! the Sabbath bells are ringing;
Hear the echoes all around.
List! the merry children singing!
What a pleasing, joyful sound!
Ev’ry tender note entreats us,
Bids us come, nor longer stay.
On our way the music greets us;
Hasten, hasten, come away.

Here we bow in meek devotion;
Here we sing Their holy praise.
Here our hearts, with fond emotion,
Seek to learn their holy ways.
From the books of revelation
We are taught while yet in youth.
Words of heav’nly inspiration
Guide us in the path of truth.

Here we meet with friends and neighbors;
Parents too are in the throng.
We are earnest in our labors.
To Their kingdom we belong.
Trials make our faith grow stronger;
Truth is nobler than a crown.
We will brave the tempest longer
Tho the world upon us frown.

Welcome, welcome, Sabbath morning;
Now we rest from ev’ry care.
Welcome, welcome is thy dawning,
Holy Sabbath, day of prayer.


Take time to read the previous posts and the "About" pages to get a feel for my intent here. I'll be adding links and buttons to the sidebars as time goes on.

We welcome you today-ay!

Mosiah 18:8-11

To round out this first week, I thought I'd include a scripture from the Book of Mormon. Because this is the baptismal covenant, it is something like a creed for Mormons. I'll admit that the additions of "and Goddess" does turn this into a mouthful, but I don't think we should sacrifice the incorporation of our Mother for ease.

You'll notice I didn't change the pronouns in verse 8 because I think there, "Lord" is being specific to Christ, I know you could argue that all the verses refer to Christ, but as stated in the Grammar page, I'm not particularly interested in making this historically accurate. What I get from this scripture is the idea that we are also Heavenly Mother's people, our Heavenly Parents' people, together, not solely His.

8 And it came to pass that he said unto them: Behold, here are the waters of Mormon (for thus were they called) and now, as ye are desirous to come into the fold of God and Goddess, and to be called their people, and are willing to bear one another’s burdens, that they may be light;

9 Yea, and are willing to mourn with those that mourn; yea, and comfort those that stand in need of comfort, and to stand as witnesses of God and Goddess at all times and in all things, and in all places that ye may be in, even until death, that ye may be redeemed of God and Goddess, and be numbered with those of the first resurrection, that ye may have eternal life—

10 Now I say unto you, if this be the desire of your hearts, what have you against being baptized in the name of the Lord, as a witness before him that ye have entered into a ccovenant with him, that ye will serve him and keep his commandments, that he may pour out his Spirit more abundantly upon you?

11 And now when the people had heard these words, they clapped their hands for joy, and exclaimed: This is the desire of our hearts.

Matthew 6:1-4

I think most Christians keep the Sermon on the Mount close to their hearts. I usually study Matthew 5, but decided to skip over to chapter 6 today. Along with including Heavenly Mother, I changed "men" to "others" and "people."

1 Take heed that ye do not your alms before others, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father and Mother which are in heaven.

2 Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of people. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.

3 But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:

4 That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father and Mother which seeth in secret themselves shall reward thee openly.

I like the idea that Heavenly Mother blesses us as well.

Daniel 3:16-18

Yesterday in Sunday School, our lesson was on Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, so I thought I'd take a scripture from that lesson today. This is the third chapter of Daniel.

16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.

17 If it be so, our God and Goddess whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and They will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.

18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

I like this because we do not always think about our Heavenly Mother as someone who "delivers" us, but as a goddess, She does, of course, have that power.

My Heavenly Parents Love Me

Because this post had a part in inspiring this blog, the first song we'll look at will be My Heavenly Father Loves Me by Clara W. McMaster.

My Heavenly Parents Love Me

Whenever I hear the song of a bird, or look at the blue, blue sky,
Whenever I feel the rain on my face or the wind as it rushes by.
Whenever I touch a velvet rose or walk by a lilac tree,
I’m glad that I live in this beautiful world
Heavenly Parents created for me.

They gave me my eyes that I might see the color of butterfly wings.
They gave me my ears that I might hear the magical sound of things.
They gave me my mind, my life, my heart, I thank her reverently
For all Their creations of which I’m a part.
Yes, I know Heavenly Parents love me.